Emerald City by Alicia K. Leppert

Olivia Tate is a broken shell of a girl haunted by the tragic events that fill her past. She has closed herself off from the world, each day grasping at something—anything—to live for. Convinced there will never be a way out, she seeks solace in the depths of her medicine cabinet. When she wakes up days later in the hospital she is introduced to Jude, the quiet stranger responsible for saving her life. She never could have guessed then that her mysterious rescuer would end up saving her life a second time, while simultaneously turning her world upside down.

There wasn’t much of a description of Emerald City when I started reading it, so I honestly had no idea what road this story was going to go down. It was actually fun being genuinely surprised, and going along for the ride with the main character, instead already able to guess or have an idea of how it will go.

The main character is Olivia, and the story is mostly told from her POV. She’s in her early twenties, lives alone, and is dealing with some major issues. When we first meet her, she’s as low as a person can get. Heartbreakingly so. I found myself getting irritated with Olivia for the way she was feeling and behaving, but then when I found out the reasons why, it put it all in perspective. There is an incident that literally changes Olivia’s life, and that’s when we meet Jude. I seriously can’t say or read the name Jude without thinking about the song by The Beatles. But I thought the story behind his name, and the connection it had with the story was interesting. Some of the book is told from his POV, but not as much as Olivia’s.

Again, I didn’t have any expectations for Emerald City, so I was constantly trying to figure Jude out. Was he really a good guy? What is his motive? Who is he? He was a bit of an enigma, not only for me, but also for Olivia. He greatly impacted her life, but she really didn’t know much about him, even though she was growing more and more attracted to him. I think as a reader, I started putting pieces together a little before Olivia did, but I was still surprised. No, I’m not going to tell you what the surprise is.

I think this is a wonderful story of love, lose, and learning not to only trust others, but to trust in yourself. And who doesn’t love a hot mysterious guy? It was nice seeing the relationship between Jude and Olivia grow, and that Olivia truly reflected on her feelings for him.

I don’t know if Leppert plans to make this into a series, but there is definitely room for the story to continue. Try to go into this book without any preconceived notions, and just enjoy ride!

Oh!! I'm definitely curious now. I love books that get better when going in without too much information too. And I'm curious to see what were so life changing, especially if you disliked her first… *adds to GR* Great review!!